“Who Believes In Angels?” Song-by-Song

Who Believes In Angels? is the album Elton John wanted to make next after retiring from touring. It is a collaboration with American artist Brandi Carlile (her eighth studio album and Elton’s 36th).

Recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles between mid-October and early November 2023, the album was produced by Andrew Watt and contains ten songs written by Elton, Brandi, Andrew, and lyricist Bernie Taupin.

Using excerpts from a variety of recent web, radio, and television interviews, Elton and Brandi talk about each song on the album.

By John F. Higgins

THE ROSE OF LAURA NYRO

ELTON: The album came together with a song that Bernie Taupin wrote called The Rose Of Laura Nyro, who I loved very much as an artist. And so has Bernie. She influenced our early songwriting so much because she wrote songs that weren’t just first chorus, middle eight… She slowed down, she sped up. She had codas at the end. So we did this song and it just blew our minds because it was so explosive the way it was done.

BRANDI: Bernie let me work with him on the lyrics, in terms of some of the diction and certain things. It was so surreal, to sit with Bernie Taupin and write words. I was able to kind of hold onto myself and slow down time and go, “Enjoy this Brandi. You’re writing words with Bernie Taupin, who is why you write words.” The first time I ever went to LA, I was like 17 years old and I went to visit a place to take a photograph of Bernie’s desk. That’s how important Bernie’s lyrics were…are to me.

LITTLE RICHARD’S BIBLE

BRANDI: Little Richard was a gay man who would veer in and out of acceptance of that. It’s very difficult that, even at the end of his life, he hadn’t fully accepted himself. He called himself the architect of rock and roll. And, for that reason, we owe him radical self-acceptance.

ELTON: The song was mixed on Little Richard’s birthday. That was not planned. And that’s how, for me, the whole album was. It was planned because we decided to do it. But when we went in there with the four of us, we had no idea. But when the electricity fused, boy, did it ever fuse! It was incredible. It was a cyclone of doubt and anxiety and hopefulness and humanity that came together in that room.

SWING FOR THE FENCES

ELTON: I had an idea that I wanted the album to sound powerful and energized. I wanted Brandi to stretch out more on her vocals and write songs that would do that. And she did that with Swing for the Fences. Brandi is taking the lead and I’m doing the harmonies. I found that difficult. I’ve never done that before. This album is all about harmonies. It’s not just one line here, one line there. It’s a proper duet record.

BRANDI: This song was probably my first musical idea for Who Believes in Angels? I wanted this anthem for young LGBTQIA+ people so that they can see these other two generations of queers, just kind of like winning.

NEVER TOO LATE

BRANDI: I wanted to write a song about how Elton just will not accept the concept of aging and who found his serenity and his peace later on in life. That’s a hopeful message for anybody that hears it. I set the lyric down and he sits at the piano and he starts to sing it and he just yells, “Cut the first line! The first line doesn’t make sense.” I go, “Well, it’s in 6/8 time, Elton.” And he just goes “No, it’s not!” and sings the first line and the song just appeared. And within 15 minutes we were recording it. It was wild.

ELTON: It’s a beautiful song. It’s never too late to change anything if you have the will, willingness, and the humility to try and admit that you’re wrong and do something – start again. The greatest thing in life is that you can do things if you have the humility and the grace to say, “I’m going to try. It’s not too late. I can do it. I’ve still got the energy.” And I’ve always been lucky in having that kind of nature.

YOU WITHOUT ME

BRANDI: I was experiencing a shift in my relationship with my oldest daughter, Evangeline. And when that showed itself for the first time, it was right when I went to California to record this album. It was just crazy because it simultaneously devastated me and made me so proud at the same time. I think every parent in the world has experienced it or will experience it.

ELTON: Every time I play the album to people, they say, “Play that one again.” They are just so moved by the sentiments of that song. And it is exactly the same as what David and I are going through as well, because our elder son went to boarding school and we took him down and had lunch with him and I came home and I just burst into tears. David said, “What on earth is wrong?” I said, “I’ve lost my boy. I love him so much as a little man, but I’ll never see that little boy again.” So that song resonates with me so much as well.

WHO BELIEVES IN ANGELS?

ELTON: It’s a very powerful song and it builds up to an incredible climax with the chorus. And I think for me how much we love each other is in that song. It moves me every time I hear it and I’m so pleased with the song and the way it’s written. I couldn’t have done a better melody to her lyrics and that’s all you, as a musician, that’s all you can do. Brandi’s my angel. I really believe that. She’s someone I can ring up to in the middle of the night, or ring up whenever I want, and she’s there for me. And I think it’s vice versa. We just fit together so well.

BRANDI: Elton John in the real world isn’t anything like I thought he was when I was a little girl hanging pictures of him on my wall. Elton was generous enough to let me see who he really was. And when I wrote the lyrics to Who Believes in Angels, it was about just really showing everybody who we really are. I feel like it’s the story of me and Elton’s relationship and what we are to each other. The fact that musically it tapped into a vein of Elton John’s writing that is so identifiably and quintessentially Elton…mixed with my lyrics…is the realization of my dreams.

A LITTLE LIGHT

ELTON: Brandi stayed next door to us in the house that we were living in [while making the album]. And she came in one morning – it was the day that Israel invaded Gaza. And I was so upset. I said, “I don’t know why I’m making a record when all this stuff is going on the world.” And she used that and she wrote a really positive lyric about what’s going on and how we can change that through our music. So, she used my mood to push it in the right direction.

BRANDI: I wrote about that conversation and what I thought we could do to help each other, and to help other people. I think we came up with something that was really healing for both of us, or at least that allowed us to continue making the record, because it did feel almost so bad and so difficult that we wanted to stop making art in that moment.

SOMEONE TO BELONG TO

BRANDI: In addition to Elton and Bernie, there is also Elton and [his husband and manager] David [Furnish]. I love their partnership. And in the ‘90s, when I discovered Elton, Elton and David were the first gay couple I’d ever seen. So we’re making this album and David comes to the studio every day, and every time he shows up, I would just see Elton’s shoulders lower and he would just relax into the day a little bit more and kind of know that his person was there. And so I got a pencil out and I wrote a song for David from Elton John. I think that it’s the love song that David’s deserved for a long time.

ELTON: The lyrics… I mean, “If there’s still gold in those hills, I owe it all to you.” He’s not only his beautiful husband, he’s been an incredible manager. My career over the last 10 years has been incredible for an artist of my stature, an artist of my age. He’s completely revolutionized my career and taken me to a different place and made me enjoy it so much. I’m very lucky in the fact that I have the most wonderful husband I had the most beautiful children. And really, that’s all I need.

WHEN THIS OLD WORLD IS DONE WITH ME

BRANDI: Bernie sent in the lyric and I didn’t even read it off the phone. I just sent it to the printer because I wanted to look at it on paper instead of on the screen, because I just knew it was important lyric. So, I saw it before Elton saw it and I had the great pleasure of putting that lyric on Elton John’s piano, waiting for him to arrive. And he walked to the piano and sat down and started writing the song. I sat behind him and heard him as he started to put it together. And by the time he got to the end of the first chorus, he was sobbing. He was crying his eyes out.

ELTON: I started [writing it and] singing and I thought. “This verse is really beautiful.” But I had no idea what was coming. And when I got to the chorus I just broke down for about 45 minutes. It really got to me. I put the piano [part] down first and did a vocal and Andrew said, “No, you have to come in tomorrow, fresh and not be upset.” And so [the next day] I did the whole thing, one take, piano and voice, live. And that’s what you hear.